1. Field of the Invention.
This invention relates, generally, to deposit box constructions, and more specifically relates to a construction that provides flexibility in the pattern of boxes available at a deposit box site.
2. Description of the Prior Art.
In a conventional safe deposit box construction, a plurality of individual safe deposit boxes are provided in a monolithic construction. Thus, each individual box in the monolithic construction is integrally formed with all of the other boxes in the construction. Once a given pattern of large, medium and small size boxes has been constructed, the institution owning the installation cannot change the pattern. For example, in a typical installation, a bank or other institution maintaining a vault for customers might order a safe deposit box construction having a large number of small size boxes, a lesser number of medium size boxes, and a smaller number of large size boxes. A great deal of planning is required by an institution so that a construction having a favorable mix of box sizes will be ordered. Unfortunately, it is virtually impossible for any institution maintaining a vault to accurately predict the optimal mix of box sizes that should be maintained in the institution. Accordingly, many boxes often go unrented or are rented at an economical disadvantage because the boxes are too small or too large for the mix of customers of the institution.
Due to the high expense of safe deposit box installation, whenever any mix of box sizes results in unrented or unprofitably rented boxes, the financial losses are considerable.
There is clearly a need for a safe deposit box construction that is not of monolithic construction. Specifically, institutions maintaining a vault should be able to change the combination, or mixture, of box sizes within the safe deposit box installation. Thus, a plurality of smaller boxes could be converted into a single box of larger volume, when needed, and of course, larger boxes could be broken down into a plurality of smaller boxes when needed.
Although such a flexible safe deposit box construction is highly desirable, such a construction does not appear in the prior art.